New Horizon on 3/3/2006 at 17:43
Quote Posted by Gestalt
I think one of the more practical long-term solutions for t3ed will involve combining meshes in an external editor. Instead of having, say, an arch and two pillars to support it or whatever, you'd open up the pillar and arch models in a modeling program then re-export them as one object. You'd probably have used the same settings for them as separate objects anyway (shadowcasting, etc.), so it wouldn't be much different. It's not a good long-term solution, but it'd be good for fitting a few extra meshes in here and there.
I was just about to post the same thing. A lot of detail could be pulled off this way. You would want to be able to pick up smaller items, but piles of large stacked crates could be combined into one...barrels stored on shelving units as well. Definately possible to squeeze some extra life out of it.
Then again, won't this require having Max 5.1?
bukary on 3/3/2006 at 18:00
This limit is probably the worst news for us since T3Ed release.
Combining meshes is not a good solution. The more diversed meshes are, the better. That way some meshes can be used many times in different positions, "contexts" etc. and not look the same.
If one wants to combine meshes, it might
a) make building FM much longer;
b) make the level look repetitive;
c) discourage many people from making custom meshes for everyone
etc.
And this happened when I seriously started working on my FM and convinced my friend to make beautiful meshes for me. :(
OrbWeaver on 3/3/2006 at 19:16
Combining meshes won't help because there are yet more limits on the complexity of meshes themselves, such as those imposed by the vertex pools (which can be increased to an extent, but I'm sure there are other, non-negotiable limits in place as well).
Gestalt on 3/3/2006 at 21:04
You'd still be able to use the original meshes, it's just that you'd also be using combined versions for recurring architectural features. The arch thing in (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1413137#post1413137) this shot is made up of seven pieces, but I could cut it down to one by combining them in Max. I'm using that same arrangement of meshes for five other arches in the level right now, so by combining the individual parts into one mesh I'd be able to cut down the total number of objects used from 42 to 6. I'd still have the original component parts for other uses.
The vertex pools thing shouldn't be much of a problem for a while, since the main problem with increasing that is that performance gets worse if you set it too high (I think Ziemanskye increased it something like ten times when he was first starting out?).
NH: Yeah, it'd require Max 5.1 right now. Whether or not it's a feasible solution will partly hinge on how Shadowspawn's .tim converter progresses.
Ziemanskye on 3/3/2006 at 23:16
New I'd regret that "Convert to Static Mesh" option being disabled (used to use it Unreal to "group" smeshes into bigger objects
New Horizon on 4/3/2006 at 01:19
Quote Posted by Ziemanskye
New I'd regret that "Convert to Static Mesh" option being disabled (used to use it Unreal to "group" smeshes into bigger objects
Funny thing for them to have ripped out, considering it could have helped out with level size issues. Damn.
nomad of the pacific on 4/3/2006 at 01:23
Quote:
Originally posted by ascottk:There is a way to get above the park area, nomad The crates stacked all the way up the wall near the sewer entrance can be destroyed with the dagger. Then you can mantle the crates to get on the wall. It's an interesting view up there.
I wondered if anyone would find that. :laff: Almost decided to drop the crates in that area for that reason, but didn't want a completely blank wall. There are a couple other places similar to that one. Haven't heard that anyone's found tham, yet. :ebil:
OrbWeaver on 4/3/2006 at 13:56
Quote Posted by New Horizon
Funny thing for them to have ripped out, considering it could have helped out with level size issues. Damn.
Not so much that they ripped it out, but they did not re-implement it to work with their own mesh format and loading mechanisms.
bukary on 4/3/2006 at 15:00
All is lost then? There's no way we could change this limit? :mad:
OrbWeaver on 4/3/2006 at 16:37
Quote Posted by bukary
All is lost then? There's no way we could change this limit? :mad:
Nope. There referenced post by Harwin suggests that even HE was not able to change it when the editor was released.
I wouldn't say all is lost though, loadzones are not the end of the world in an otherwise well-designed mission (HL2 had them very frequently and the game was still enjoyable).
